Does a French drain need a catch basin?

The longer answer

What each piece does: a French drain is perforated pipe bedded in washed rock and wrapped in filter fabric — water soaks down through the soil into the rock and enters the pipe through its slots. It's built for water in the ground. A catch basin is a grated box set at a low spot — water runs across the surface, falls through the grate, and enters solid pipe. It's built for water on the ground.

When to combine them (very common in KC):

• A soggy stretch of lawn plus one spot that turns into a pond → French drain along the wet line, basin in the pond spot, one shared discharge run to daylight or a pop-up emitter.
• A landscape bed that drowns plants → basin with an atrium (dome) grate that stands above the mulch, tied into the drain run.
• Downspout water crossing the yard on the surface → honestly, skip both and bury the downspout — solid pipe all the way, $300–$700 per line.

One thing not to do: don't dump surface water straight into the French drain's perforated pipe. Surface flow carries grit and mulch that clogs the rock bed years early. That's exactly what the basin is for — it has a sediment sump below the pipe that traps debris where you can scoop it out.

Prices, published: French drains $25–$60/LF installed (typical 40–80 ft system $1,500–$3,800), catch basins $350–$750 each installed, pop-up emitters $150–$300. The free assessment tells you which combination your yard actually needs — sometimes the answer is one, not both, and we'll say so.

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